What I've Been Looking For
by TheVampyrSlayer
Summary: OC So James has just taken in Sirius after he ran away from his home, fed up with everything. Then they found a girl unconcious and the Potters take her in, what Surprises does this girl hold? Starts in the summer before the marauders 5th year.
1. Chapter 1

Willow sat alone in the garden as she did most days, away from the other kinds. She was the oldest one there, seeming to be around her early to mid teenager years. After being at this place for so long, the girl longed to leave, and for good.

She had few friends here and very few belongings. Though among them was her prized possession, she wore it all the time, only taking it off when she went in water, not wanting to ruin it. This was a sterling silver locket, it had an engraving on the back and it read:

"_Love you always, Mum & Dad"_

Ever since the teen could remember she had worn this around her neck, and for as long as Willow could remember, she could not open it. But since it had never been open, she assumed that it was just an empty heart-shaped locket. Much like her own heart, Willow had never been close with anyone, afraid or getting hurt as she did many times in her childhood. She could count numerous times where she gained a friend, only to have them be adopted and have them taken away from her. While Willow knew that they would be happy with their new families and she was happy for them, the dark-haired girl couldn't help but feel abandoned. For all she knew, this could be the very reason she was in this horrid place.

Willow's blue-green eyes wandered about her surroundings. The grass was a crisp green and she knew the aroma of freshly cut grass was evident. Perched upon a large boulder, She had her knees drawn up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them and her chin rested comfortably on her knees. The mid-June summer breeze rolled through, making her auburn tresses dance in the wind as she watched the sun that was ready to set. She'd made up her mind. Willow was finally going to run away from this hell hole and she wasn't going to come back this time.

Sliding off the rock, she packed her bag quickly and ran a brush through her hair, that had a very slight wave to it. Not even taking a last look, She headed to the door. Walking through the large, very white lobby, passed the empty receptionists desk to the glass doors. Willow stopped with her hand on the handle. A large pudgy, hand gripped her shoulder and she looked down to see sausage-like fingers in time to be whipped around harshly against the glass doors. "Calloway." She locked eyes with the large man who towered over her by a good amount. This was the 'man' that gave her scars on her arms that looked self-inflicted, even though they weren't, the 'man' that used the Cruciatus Curse on her. _Good thing after so long I learned to throw it off. _She thought grimly. Unlike most there, she wasn't intimidated by him. Not anymore.

"Girl, you have a lot of nerve, didn't you learn your lesson the first few times?" He spat, grabbing her small wrist roughly and revealed her scars as if trying to remind her of the consequences.

"It just eats you up that I'm not cowering in fear, that I'm not afraid of you doesn't it? That I haven't told anyone about all of the things that you do to me. She broke from his grip and got out the door staring back at him for a brief moment with nothing but pure and fiery hatred in her eyes.

"I'm not taking you back!" Calloway shouted at Willow's retreating form.

She ran down to the corner and made sure that she was out of sight. Willow waited a moment or so and then doubled back, going around the back way and to where they kept the wands. While everything else was horrid, they did teach them magic and they were very strict about learning it and being able to do spells and potions in your sleep. Setting her back carefully on the ground, she crept into the room where they were all kept. Most were kept in little boxes with the person's name on it on the wall. But in special cases, there was a place where they went, a safe.

Willow quietly grabbed someone's wand and whispered, "Alohamora." The door to the small box opened and revealed a box that was labeled 'Willow A.J.' This was her first name and her middle name. When she was old enough to know, one of the older, nicer women told her that when she was left here, there was a note with her name and birth date. Sighing, she removed her wand, 12 ¼ inches Redwood with Phoenix feather and unicorn hair core, and then put the other one back where it went and shut the box silently and snuck back out.

Grabbing her bag, she made a dash to get away again, just in case she were to get caught. Once the teenager was sure that she was far enough away, she stuck out her right hand, her wand hand to the street, and within seconds there was a vehicle in front of her. A navy, triple-decker bus stood before her. This was The Knight Bus. A young man looking to be no older then the mid-twenties stepped out. He had red hair that was very messy, going this way and that way. He was fairly skinny and very tall standing around over six feet, Willow would have guessed.

" 'Ello! Mark Turnpike at your service with the Knight Bus!" He said with a smile on his face. Oddly enough, it sounded like he was being genuine, not like he'd rehearsed it. Willow stood there for a moment. "Well don't just stand there! Welcome aboard!" She nodded with a small smile as she got onto the large bus. "Where to, Miss?"

This was a good question. "To the suburbs please." she said politely. Immedietly, she was forced to sit on one of the beds and hold on, as the bus bolted into action, making the beds and everything else slide about. Taking in her surroundings, Willow saw people sleeping on a few of the beds, even as they moved around. Something about that just seemed to baffle her a bit.

After a few more stops Mark sprang to life again. "Suburbs! Step lightly please. And just because you're so pretty, this one's on me." The man winked at her.

"Erm… Thanks." She said quietly, as she hastily got off. As soon as she was, it sprang to life again and was gone, as quickly as it had come. Willow knew that it was gone but just to be sure, she sprinted away. After getting what she thought was a safe distance away, she slowed to a walk, catching her breath, glad for once that the orphanage made them run two miles a day, well okay, just the older ones. Either way, she was in very good running shape.

Willow took in her surroundings. It was now pitch black outside. _Great… _she thought. "Well at least I can see fairly well in the dark." she grumbled. Something occurred to her as she passed some large houses, _What do I do now? _She'd gotten far enough away now, but she had no where to go. Maybe She should have stayed… No, she couldn't go back, she wouldn't. At that moment, she passed a house that must have had a sort of alarm, although Willow was unaware until the sound of what she was fairly certain was a dog reached her ears, and sounded like it was chasing her. Taking up to running again, she made a mad dash away from the noise. Looking back while she ran she saw nothing but kept going anyway. Turning her gaze back in front of her, Willow's head collided with a low branch of a tree. Everything went blurry and then black.

Two teenage boys walked out of a house walking beside one another. The first had untidy dark hair and glasses. He was of athletic build, the other boy was as well. The second was a bit taller then the first, but both were fairly tall. The second had longish black hair that fell just over his eyes, his name was Sirius Black. The first went by the name of James Potter. They were best friends, fellow marauders and now Sirius lived with James.

Sirius' family, the Blacks, were pureblood wizards and they were not the best sort. They believed that Half-bloods and muggle-borns should not be part of the wizarding world at all. Ever since he was sorted into Gryffindor in his first year, Sirius' family treated him badly, and often called him a 'blood-traitor'. His younger brother Regulus was always favored over him, but since Regulus got into Slytherin like the rest of the Black family, he was the cherished child, and Sirius got fed up with all that he could take and left.

"Are you glad you finally left?" James asked his friend of almost 5 years now. Sirius seemed to be in thought.

"Yeah I guess. But It's like I forced myself on you and your parents." Sirius felt a hand grip his shoulder and stop.

"Hey, you know my parents think of you as another son. Don't think on it." James gave his friend's shoulder a squeeze and started walking again with Sirius beside him. Soon they saw a figure on the ground a ways in front of them. At first they assumed it was just some brush or something but getting closer they realized that it was a person. "Bloody hell!" James exclaimed. The boys looked to one another and then sprinted to the person. Dropping to their knees when they reached them the first thing they noticed was that she was female.

"Who do you think she is?" Sirius asked, thinking perhaps James knew her since they weren't far from his home.

"I dunno, but we should get her to Mum." James answered brushing her dark hair out of her face, which revealed a cut on her forehead above her right eye. Sirius carefully picked her up in his arms while James grabbed her bag. "Watch out for the branch." James told him.

"Well that explains what happened, though I don't know how she ran into it, must not have been looking I reckon." Sirius commented with a light chuckle. Swiftly, the boys made their way back to James' house, with little conversation at all surprisingly. James opened the door and Sirius made for the stairs and went into one of the guest rooms, setting her down gently on the soft bed.

"Mum!" James shouted urgently. Mrs. Anna Potter stepped out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. Seeing the look on her son's face she got worried.

"What happened?" she asked in her clear motherly tone.

"We found a girl, she was unconscious, not far from here and she has a cut on her head, Sirius and I thought you may want to take a look at her or something." James explained. Mrs. Potter was a healer at St. Mungo's and James knew she would be able to help. Leading her up the stairs and to the first bedroom at the top, where he knew Sirius had brought her, James wondered who she was and what she had been running from. Upon entering the room, James found Sirius with a rag and a bowl of, what he assumed was warm, water. He was cleaning the cut on her head, for once not being mischievous and pranking.

"Where did you say you boys found her?" Anna asked. They both told her that she was just a few blocks down. "James would you see if there is an I.D. card or something in her bag?" she asked, having seen it when she got into the room.

James nodded and looked through her bag and gave a small laugh at the first thing he saw. Holding out her wand he said, "Well, she's not a muggle. She's got a wand." Finding a card in one of the smaller pockets, he read aloud, "Dreamer's Orphanage. Willow A.J." He handed the card to his mother. She set it down for the time being. She held a point at the girl's wrist as she looked at her own watch.

After a moment she set her wrist back down. She had noticed some scars on her arms but made no visible reaction. "Well I think she just hit her head, she should be fine once she wakes up." The woman looked at her I.D. card and looked angry, reasoning that she hadn't been paying attention when James read it. She shook her head.

James frowned at his mother. "What is it?" he asked.

"This place, Dreamer's Orphanage, its right awful. The owner Ron Calloway abuses the kids. Everybody is too afraid to go against him and anyone that does, seems to disappear. Nobody can touch him." she answered looking at the teenage girl with sympathy.

"That's horrible!" Sirius hissed angrily.

"Yes it is but there's not much we can do." Mrs. Potter paused, thinking. After a couple of moments she spoke again. "I wont force her to, but if she will, I would like her to stay here. Your father feels the same way about that place as I do, and we have plenty of room, so there shouldn't be any problems there. Plus, another girl around couldn't hurt."

Sirius finished cleaning her up and set the bowl and rag on the nightstand while Anna put a small bandage on her cut. "Now we just have to wait for her to wake up." Sirius said, sitting on the cushioned bench with James, that was placed on the wall across from the bed. Moments later, Willow's blue-green eyes fluttered open as she waited for her vision to slowly clear as she took in her unfamiliar surroundings.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Explanations and an offer**

Willow realized she was on a bed, very soft and comfortable, definitely not at

the orphanage, although now thinking about this she knew for certain that she

would be sent back to the hell-hole. The young brunette pushed herself into a

sitting position, slowly. Looking around, Willow realized that she couldn't

remember how she got to wherever it was that she was at. Two boys looking about her age sat on a bench across from where she was. And in a chair beside her was a woman.

"Where am I?" she asked bewildered.

"Welcome to the Potter Manor." Mrs. Potter answered her with a kind and warm

tone. "You hit your head I'm afraid, dear." She explained. She muttered and 'Oh'

and winced as she put a hand to the cut on her head. "My son and his friend

found you. This is my son James," she motioned to the teenage boy with dark hair and glasses. "And his friend Sirius Black." She motioned to the other boy,

handsome with longish dark hair as well. Both boys nodded in turn.

"Hello" She said a bit nervously. To be quite honest, Willow was a bit embarrassed by this.

"Hungry?" The boy with gray eyes and longer dark hair asked.

"No, thank you." She replied politely.

"Nonsense! James, Sirius, go find something, go ahead and make some sandwiches." She looked to Willow, "Is that alright with you sweetie?" The girl simply nodded for a moment. The boys then left the room to venture down to the kitchen for fix some sandwiches.

Back in the room, Willow crossed her legs Indian-style on the bed. She frowned suddenly. "I'm sorry! I'm getting the bedspread all messy!" she said starting to take off her shoes hastily.

"Calm down dear child!" Anna Potter said, amused. "Just relax, take a breather,

get some food. My you're pale, are you feeling alright?" The healer in the older

woman had kicked in.

After repositioning she nodded, still slightly confused. "Yes ma'am, I'm fine,

just a bit… embarrassed I suppose." Willow unsure why she'd actually told the

older woman. But there was something about her that just made her want to trust Anna.

She gave Willow a knowing look. "No need to be. Sirius found your I.D. card, how long were you at the orphanage?" she asked carefully.

"Not really sure to be completely honest. Long as I can remember I know, so

probably a little over fourteen years or so." She answered.

"That's horrible!" Anna said. "Honey, why have you got been found a home?" Her voice was filled with pure kindness and concern.

"Not sure." Willow looked down at her arms, and attempted to hide the scars. The ones inflicted upon her because she ran away or stepped a toe out of line with Mr. Calloway. These were the big reason nobody wanted to take her in. Not many people want a cutter, which she wasn't, he just made it look at that and with the few clothes she did have, it was easy to believe that she was one.

Anna's eyes followed Willow's, she looked at the girl in sympathy. "I apologize

if I am overstepping my boundaries and correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think

you did those yourself did you?"

Willow looked taken aback by the woman's question. Every person that she met

always assumed that they were something other then what they really were.

Especially the ones that looked fairly new. "N-no." She replied.

"Your I.D. card says that you belong to the Wizarding Orphanage in town." Willow nodded, as if to confirm it. " I know what goes on there. The owner, he abuses the kids and by the looks of it you've had your fair share…" The two women locked eyes for a moment in understanding.

"I ran away because I got sick of being blamed for everything no matter what it

was. I mean I would rather me then the little ones but, I-I couldn't take

anymore." She explained

"You don't have to go back. I wont make you." Anna stated. "You can stay here,

there's plenty of room and by the sounds of it and the looks I don't think you

can handle him anymore."

"But I don't want you to feel like you have to do this, you shouldn't have to."

Willow did not want to impose even a little and it showed in her expression.

"Say nothing more and consider yourself at home." These words meant more to

Willow then Anna probably realized. To a girl who'd never had a home, or

anything close to it she didn't know how to react.

Meanwhile the boys were in the kitchen preparing lunch. James rummaged through the fridge for something to make sandwiches out of, while Sirius grabbed the bread and then plates out of the cupboard. He stood and waited for James by the counter. After spending most of this summers here, Sirius knew this house almost as well as James, himself. Still, looking around the dark-haired boy seemed to find something new each time. The residence was quite large, verging on mansion actually. With Mr. Potter being an Auror at the Ministry and Anna a healer at St. Mongos, they were pretty well off. "Oh come on, James! Just grab some lunchmeat, cheese and condiments. This isn't Advanced Potions!" He said exasperatedly. "Merlin Sirius, a bit impatient are we?" he asked placing everything on the counter. After a minute or so, "You think she'll go back? To the orphanage I mean?" Sirius asked.

James shrugged, he honestly didn't know. "From what Mum says, I really hope she stays. If she doesn't, Mum will probably try to fatten her up." They both

laughed and finished preparing lunch and used trays to bring it up to the guest

room where the girls were. "Ladies." Sirius greeted with a smirk as they walked in.

James smacked his friend in the back of the head. "Ouch! What was that for?!"

"One of them just _happens_ to be my mother!" James exclaimed. Anna simply chuckled while Willow, for the first time, softly giggled and grinned. Sirius grinned, so did James, looking at her a little funny.

She caught both of their eyes with a soft smile, "Not allowed to laugh am I?" she asked. Both boys blushed and chuckled while Sirius rubbed the back of his head. Willow smiled again.

James seemed to be the first of them to regain his bearings. "So, Um, who wants lunch?"

By this point Anna had taken to a comfy chair she'd conjured up, rather then sitting on the end of the four-poster bed. The boys, however, hopped onto the bed and sat across from Willow. The three teenagers were now all on the bed, the boys beside one another and the female at the head, across from them.

Anna decided to tell them before they went asking her. "Boys, meet your new house-mate."

Both James and Sirius grinned their mischievous grins, and she smiled back a bit timidly. "Welcome aboard!" James greeted between bites of his sandwich.

Willow nodded slightly with a smile. "Thanks. My name is Willow, or you can call me AJ I don't care which."

"James Potter, and this is my best mate, Sirius Black." James said. At this point, Sirius flashed her a charming smile and a wink making her giggle softly. _Well I see he's already started. _James thought.

Willow inwardly rolled her eyes at Sirius while James chuckled at him. _Sirius is the flirt I see. _She was brought out of her short thoughts as someone spoke to her.

"How old are you Willow?" It was James.

"I'll be fifteen in December."

"Really? So will I! When?" he asked a little curious.

"The fifteenth, golden birthdays this one, I guess." She shrugged, seeming not the least bit excited.

The boys both looked a little confused by her tone and attitude about it all. James just then realized what she said. "Hey, mine's the fifteenth too!" he said somewhat excitedly. "Weird."

"Well You seem to get on well, I guess I'll leave you lot alone." Anna said. The three chorused their good-byes. At the doorway Willow caught her eye, she mouthed the words 'thank you'. With a nod and soft smile, she exited the room.

The mind of Anna Potter was racing._ James' sister was named Willow AJ as well. She was taken so long ago though. _She shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment. _There's no way…_ With a sigh she ran a hand through her own auburn curls. Reaching the kitchen, she shook her head with a small smile at the mess James and Sirius had left.

Back upstairs, something was tugging at the back of Sirius' mind. "Hey Will, can I ask you something?" he asked in complete seriousness, she nodded. "Why aren't you excited, even a little bit, about your birthday?"

"Never had a reason to honestly. Nobody ever made a deal about it." ((Sound familiar?;-) ))

"What about your friends?" came from James.

"Didn't have any. I learned early on that it was not fair to make friends or get close to someone who would be leaving, never to be seen again anyway." She stated, thinking of her last best friend, from the beginning till about age seven, she still missed him sometimes.

"Don't worry, that'll all change, now that you have us and will be attending Hogwarts." James said with a grin.

"Um, I'm sorry? Hogwarts?" Willow asked confused.

"Oh, right. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's where we go to school. Great place really, somewhat of a boarding school, you know dormitories and that sort of thing where the students sleep during term." James explained.

"…And since you're staying here, you'll be going there too!" Sirius added with a big grin.

"Oh, sounds cool I guess, but you guys make it sound like a party house." Willow said with a little confusion. She thought he called it a school.

"Well it's a little hard to explain…" James said.

"Eh, not really." Sirius interrupted. "Right, so there's four houses, "He paused and she nodded. "Hufflepuff is for the really loyal types. Ravenclaw is for the clever really brainy kids, you know the ones who study day and night?"

James decided to finish for him. "And Slytherin is for 'the cunning and clever' " he said with air quotes.

"In other words, they're all a bunch of gits and snobs." Sirius interjected.

"Yeah, what he said." James grinned. "And the last house, "

"And the best." Sirius said.

"Is Gryffindor, home of the courageous and brave."

"And pranking."

"As we repeatedly demonstrate." Both boys wore identical mischievous grins.

Willow couldn't help but smile and laugh for a moment. "You'd swear you two were brothers or something! The way that you practically finish each other's sentences." James and Sirius chuckled, and then James looked like something just dawned on him.

"Oh! And Quidditch!" He exclaimed as Sirius nodded. "D'you know what that is?" 

"Yeah. Kinda anyway. It's some sport on broomsticks, right?" She asked and James looked shocked.

"You have a lot to learn." Sirius said with a chuckle.


End file.
